Tributes have flooded in for a 28-year-old man who died while sleeping rough after his life 'fell apart'.

Thomas Pulham - known as Tommy - had hit on hard times four months before his body was discovered in Warner Street, Hanley.

But previously the former Sir Thomas Boughey High School student had overcome a 'chaotic childhood' and held down lots of different jobs.

Now StokeonTrentLive readers have shared their memories of Tommy who grew up around Newcastle and Stoke-on-Trent and was known as a 'gentle giant'.

Yasmin Stevenson wrote on the Facebook page: "I had no idea that this man was homeless when I met him up town outside a shop where I was stood with my children. He gave them each a £1 coin and was a lovely man. RIP Tommy."

Flowers with messages of condolence have been left where the man was found on Tuesday morning behind the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery

An old friend, Gemma Hubbert, said: "He used to come ours when he was younger, he was a lovely lad."

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Gemma Taylor added: "Awful, RIP Tommy! Scary to think this could be anyone's situation with one bad run of luck."

And Abigail Roberts said: "So sad. This young man was in supported accommodation around 10 years ago with his whole life ahead of him. He'd secured a good apprenticeship and job. He'd faced some difficulties, what a crying shame."

Emergency services had been alerted to behind the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, in Warner Street, Hanley, at around 8.30am on Tuesday (January 22) and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The homeless man was found dead on Warner Street on Tuesday morning in Hanley

His sister Natalie Pulham has spoken out to reveal how Tommy was let down in the days before his death and had even been attacked by three men with a hammer.